1815.
The enactment of a new and more stringent Corn Law was the most important proceeding of our Parliament this year. In the early years of our commercial history, prohibitions were laid upon the exportation of corn, but these were gradually relaxed, and in 1688 a bounty of 5s. per quarter was offered, on exportation, till the home price had reached 48s., while a duty of 6s. to 8s. per quarter was levied on imported wheat, while the price ranged between 53s. 4d. and 80s. a quarter. In 1766, on the apprehension of scarcity, this was entirely reversed, exportation was prohibited, and importation was free. In 1774 a duty of 6d. a quarter was levied on all imports of wheat, which were not permitted till the price had reached 48s. in the home market. In 1791 this duty was raised to 2s. 6d. a quarter, and in 1804 the importation price was fixed at 63s. a quarter, instead of 48s. Such is a brief history of English Corn Laws down to this period. In the session 1812–13, when prices were beginning to decline, a committee was appointed to inquire into the working of the Corn Laws, and though their report was very meagre in information, it yet created great alarm throughout the country, and meetings were everywhere held to petition against any alteration of the existing law, which might prevent the people enjoying that which they had looked forward to as one of the greatest blessings of peace—cheap bread. In May, 1814, Sir Henry Parnell succeeded in carrying a resolution permitting the free exportation of corn, be the price what it might; and it was intended to have fixed an import duty of 24s. 3d. upon wheat until it rose to 63s., and a sliding scale from that price to 86s.; but the opposition it evoked in the country was so strong that the project was abandoned. The House of Commons resumed the discussion of the Corn Laws on February 22, 1815, and after two evenings’ debate it was resolved, by a majority of 209 to 65, that wheat should not be imported till the price was 80s. a quarter. Immediately the country was in arms; on the very next day a petition was presented from the Corporation and liverymen of London, which had received 40,000 signatures in ten hours, praying that no alteration might take place. On the 3rd of March Mr. Vansittart moved the second reading of the Corn Bill; and an attempt to delay it till the following week, to allow time for the country to petition, was rejected by a majority of 171. On the 6th of March the House went into committee, but that evening the populace of the metropolis had surrounded the House, and insisted on stopping every member, and sought to make them pledge themselves to vote against the obnoxious measure; a Mr. Croker was in particular very ill-treated, and the Speaker sent for a detachment of the Life Guards, who continued to surround the House for the rest of the evening. A very high debate upon this matter took place in the House itself, but nothing availed to stay the progress of the measure, and it was carried through committee that evening by majorities varying from 120 to 180. The Bill was read a third time, and passed on the 16th of March. It was carried rapidly through the Lords by large majorities, and on the 23rd it received the royal assent. The principal opponents of the measure were Mr. Baring, Mr. Phillips, Sir R. Peel, Mr. Protheroe, &c. It did not however answer the purpose of keeping up prices, for they gradually sank lower and lower till they were considerably below 60s. per quarter, and farmers, holding their lands on lease, constantly appeared in the Gazette. The average price of wheat this year was 65s. 7d.; and Consols stood at 60. For an account of the meetings held, and the steps taken, in this county to protest against the enactment of the Corn Laws, see ante, pp. 61, 63.
January 19—Lord Somers addressed the lords of manors and proprietors of freeholds on Malvern Chace, announcing his intention of giving up all further attempts to bring about an enclosure of the same. He found it impossible to reconcile so many conflicting interests.
January 26—Mr. Charles Matthews gave his celebrated entertainment, called “Mail Coach Adventures,” at Worcester Theatre.
June 18—On the glorious field of Waterloo, Lieutenant Colonel Lygon commanded the Life Guards. Lord Sandys, then Lord Arthur Hill, was an A.D.C. to the Duke of Wellington.
December 4—The Worcester and Birmingham Canal opened. The first act for the cutting of this canal was passed on the 9th June, 1791. From the Severn to Tardebigg (15 miles) there is a rise of 428 feet, with 71 locks. From Tardebigg to the Birmingham Canal (14 miles) is level. At West Heath it passes through a tunnel 2,700 yards long. In the first and subsequent acts power was taken to raise no less a sum than £657,500; the original number of proprietors being only 1,800. It has throughout been an unfortunate concern; for the first act is filled with guarantees to other canals and opposing interests, which have hung like a millstone round the necks of the proprietors. From Tardebigg to Birmingham the canal is of greater capacity than in the part nearer the Severn. The company is now, however, about to be absorbed into the Old Birmingham Canal Company, and matters will, probably, henceforth wear a different aspect.
December—The celebrated Elliston opened Worcester Theatre for one season. There being amongst his company the Misses Brunton, Mr. and Mrs. Keeley, &c.
Local Acts—For taking down and rebuilding the parish church of St. Thomas, Dudley; for enabling the Worcester and Birmingham Canal Company to complete and extend their works.
1816.
This was a truly gloomy year. Agriculturists, manufacturers, and tradespeople all alike experienced the depression resulting from the sudden change from war to peace; and it was felt the more, as it was so totally unexpected. The harvest was exceedingly unproductive, and the farmers got no relief by the high prices which corn fetched—for the quality of home-grown corn was poor in the extreme. The sudden reduction of paper money in circulation had much to do with this untoward state of things; the understanding that the Bank was to return to cash payments immediately, had compelled them to reduce the quantity of notes in circulation, and the metallic currency had either been bought up privately and converted into bullion, or sent abroad. The ministry proposed to continue the property and income tax, but such was the feeling of the country against it, on the score of its being only a war tax, that it was rejected by a majority of 238 to 201, and the ministers were obliged to borrow to make up the year’s deficit. Three per Cents. averaged 61; wheat averaged 78s. 6d.
January 22—Henry Wakeman, Esq., of Perdiswell, at his audit for Claines, made a reduction in his tithes of £20 per cent., an example which was pretty generally imitated by the large titheowners throughout the county. The reason alleged was “the great declension in value of all farming produce.” Wheat now selling at 6s. a bushel in Worcester market.
January 29—A Worcestershire Agricultural Society established, at a meeting held at the Hoppole; Lord Viscount Elmley in the chair. Lord Foley, Sir Thomas Winnington, Sir William Smith, &c., were among its first supporters. Its first exhibition of stock took place in June, when £40 was distributed in prizes (which were all carried off by five persons); but, after languishing for a year or two, it was given up for want of support.
May—The Messrs. Chamberlain ordered to attend at Warwick House, with specimens of porcelain for the Princess Charlotte, who gave them a large order in anticipation of her approaching marriage. Messrs. Flight, Barr, and Barr were afterwards honoured with an order.
August 12—Miss Foote performed in The Honeymoon at Worcester Theatre.
November 18—A subscription entered into for the relief of the poor of Worcester. The gross amount collected was £1,900, the greater part of which was distributed in coals. The apparatus for making soup by steam first set up in the Bull Entry.
December 20—A dinner given at the Lion Inn, Kidderminster, to the Right Hon. Earl Beauchamp, in acknowledgment of the undeviating attention which his lordship had uniformly paid to the interests of that town while he had been the representative of the county.
Local Acts—For better repairing the roads leading into and from the city of Worcester; for enlarging the powers of the acts for repairing the roads from Bromsgrove to Dudley; for enclosing lands at Rock, Feckenham, and Minith Wood.